I saw that Kyla posted the Fuse interview with former theater rocker and current golfer Alice Cooper over in the video section, where he blasted some of the new folkie (sort of) bands like Mumford, Lumineers, etc. His exact quote went like this: "I just feel like this whole generation maybe all need to eat a steak," Cooper said. "Maybe they need to quit eating, you know, vegetarian food and get out there and get some blood pumping in their system." I'd go one more step and propose that they be made to shoot the animals before they skin 'em, rip out their guts and cook 'em over a pit. Serve 'em up blood red rare too.
'Cooper mocked the bands' lyrics and instrumentals, saying the acts do not play "real rock 'n' roll." Their sentimental approaches to music and the accordions and flutes that adorn the stage during performances has no place among the genre, the aged singer says. Labeling Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers rock bands is "an offense," according to Cooper. To him, that term should be reserved for acts like the Foo Fighters and Green Day.' (HuffPost)
Now if we can be honest here, I'm pretty much over the "play your guitar real fast and wear a funky fedora" phase myself. It was fun for a little while I suppose, but when everyone praised the set with Dylan on the Grammy awards a couple years ago I knew the scene was over. But the difference between me and Al, if I may call him that, is that I never, ever once mistook Mumford and friends for rock, folk, indie, Americana or alt. Maybe acoustic music, but certainly not rock. So to compare them to Green Day (you know...the band who has a Broadway show based on their music) is a bit silly and a lot ignorant.
But Al has often made outrageous statements, and in fact there are several websites devoted to his words of wisdom. For example:
"The hippies wanted peace and love. We wanted Ferraris, blondes and switchblades." (And I thought this came from David Lee Roth or Vince Neil.)
"People that haven't seen us yet are shocked because they think that Alice Cooper must be a female folksinger. They don't expect the whole thing." (True. I went to see Al in 1971 and the audience booed every time I yelled for him to play "Big Yellow Taxi".)
"They should invent some way to tape-record your dreams. I've written songs in my dreams that were Beatles songs. Then I'd wake up and they'd be gone." (Key words..."in my dreams".)
"I'm not crazy about country-western music. But the lyrics are good."
"What most people don't understand is that UFOs are on a cosmic tourist route. That's why they're always seen in Arizona, Scotland, and New Mexico. Another thing to consider is that all three of those destinations are good places to play golf. So there's possibly some connection between aliens and golf. (And those holes on the greens are portals to another world.)
"The late sixties and early seventies were kind of a breeding ground for exciting new sounds because easy listening and folk were kind of taking over the airwaves. I think it was a natural next step to take that blissful, easy-going sound and strangle the life out of it." (Al often played at CBGB's under the name Ramones.)
"I'm 18 and I like it!" (You're sixty-five. And you golf.)
"From the moment I leave my house or my hotel room, the public owns me. The public made Alice Cooper and I can't imagine ever turning my back on my fans." (Excessive vanity and self-centeredness predates by many years the modern medical classification of narcissistic personality disorder.)
"I appreciate an audience that reacts to the music, even if they jump on stage and try to beat us up, I think that's a fantastic reaction. I think that they're really hearing something then." (Last week at a concert in Buffalo bottles of Metamucil were thrown at Al and he sustained regularity.)
"On stage, I'm this figure, this actor, who does things that people aren't used to seeing and I relish in that reaction. In real life, though, I play golf, I shop and I walk around with no makeup on and my hair in a ponytail. I may not be the typical middle-aged Joe, but I'm closer to normal than you think." (Couple years ago I bumped into Al at Walmart and he was buying one of those caps that said Bud on the front and had a fake ponytail sewed on in at the back.)
"Oh, I love to lie. That's one of my favorite things in the world, coming up to somebody, especially press people, and telling them some enormous lie that couldn't possibly be true." (And so there it is...he really does love Mumford and totally believes that flutes, lutes and accordions are here to stay.)
Alice Cooper on the history, meaning and importance of rock music in our society:
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